Round 7 for Mahasangram 2016 was on the motion “This house would endorse state run security forces’ involvement in industrial and business activities in Nepal”. Debaters focused on the essence of security forces in this debate. One side believed that security forces’ involvement in industrial and business activities to be a proper way to mobilize highly skilled security personnel, who mostly remain idle while the other side portrayed it to be an action that potentially compromised the security of Nepal and this involvement may lead to an army rule as they would start having greater role to play in every individual’s life.

The economy of the nation was another major concern in this debate. The side proposition were able to show how access to huge amount of resources enabled security forces to set up different industries and work efficiently to contribute in economic development. The concern of side opposition remained on the possible collapse of the private firms, unable to compete with the industries and business run by security forces. The benefits and harms were discussed in three layers, in this debate: a) to the security forces b) to the government and c) to the citizen. A big question from the opposition in this debate was how justified it was to compromise security for the sake of small economic developments. The government side, on the other hand, showed how better security can be assured with the help of funds generated from such industries.

The last debate for the group stage was on an impromptu motion: “This House Believes That people should donate to governments rather than non-governmental charities”. On principle level, an individual’s freedom of choice was the foundation of case from the opposition. The other side discussed the roles and need of government. The purpose of donations was also engaged upon. The opposition side, standing for individual liberty, went on to elaborate how donations are made to specific fields for a certain desired outcome and this was better addressed by non governmental organizations working on these particular fields.

The other side felt that the government understood the actual need of the citizen and would be able to better solve the problems that are in the urgent need of being addressed. They expressed mistrust regarding non-governmental organizations’ efficiency. Transparency was another issue discussed. The manipulation of situation and falsified information to donors given by organizations compared to the transparent government was shown to be untrustworthy. The roles played by organizations at the time of Nepal earthquake and the ignorance of government was capitalized on by the opposition. The importance of anti-government movements and the necessity of direct donation to such movements was also discussed upon.

After eight rounds of The Liberty Debates Championship, we finally have breaking teams and adjudicators moving into semi-finals and grand finale. The breaking teams in English category will be competing in semi-finals to secure position in finals whereas the breaking teams in Nepali category will directly compete in finals.

The list of breaking teams in English category:

Team

Team Points

Rank

Kaurav

23

1st

MP

17

2nd

Bazinga

15

3rd

Dream Cream

14

4th

Cool People

13

5th

Dumbledore’s Army (DA)

13

6th

Sand Snakes

13

7th

Sugoi 2Gs

12

8th

The list of breaking teams in Nepali Category:

Team

Team Points

Rank

Kamarriya

23

1st

Aerodite

16

2nd

The NaLC Starlete

15

3rd

KUSL

13

4th

The list of breaking adjudicators are:

Avash Byanjankar

Bisishta Rai

Mahesh Joshi

Poshan Khanal

Prabin Basyal

Prashad Gyawali

Pratap Ghimire

Sharad Lal Amatya

The semifinals of the championship will be taking place on April 27, 2016 (Wednesday) at King’s College beginning 1 p.m.